Getting Started with Coin Collecting - Choosing a Theme

Welcome back to the second installment of our Getting Started with Coin Collecting series. In today’s post we’ll be looking at how to choose a theme, subject or period for your collection.

As we touched on in our previous post (view here if you missed it), casting the net wide and collecting from a range of themes and/or eras can make it difficult to complete a collection. However, by selecting a specific theme you are more likely to complete a collection, after which you can select and move onto a different subject or period.

Popular themes include:

Collecting by theme

Many enthusiasts will choose to collect by theme. Commemorative coins with a royal connection for example, are incredibly popular among collectors. With an ongoing calendar of celebratory events such as royal births, birthdays and anniversary celebrations, there is plenty to collect with regular new releases. Past and present Olympic coins have also proven popular this year, with the Rio 2016 games sweeping everyone up into Olympic fever and spurring on many to seek out both commemorative and circulation Olympic coins.

Collecting by metal

Some collectors may also look to collect coins made from a particular metal. Depending on the depth of your pockets for example, you may choose to collect precious metal coins struck in gold or platinum. Certain countries are renowned for their production in specific precious metal coins. South African gold for example, is held in high esteem by many coin collectors and the rise in gold prices is making them even more popular.

Collecting by period

Another popular theme is to collect based on the period in which the coin was produced. A period collector for example, may opt to collect coins issued under a particular monarch, or ancient coins such as those of Roman or Greek origin

Collecting by country

Collecting coins by country is one of the most popular themes and due to many countries changing their currency on a regular basis is likely to be never ending. Enthusiasts who opt to collect by country will generally try focus their attention on a single country while others will attempt to find a sample from every country that has issued a coin.

As the collector, your coin collecting preference is entirely up to you. It may be that you’ve got an idea about the type of collection you’d like to start or it may be that you need to give it a little more thought. Either way, as your interest increases, it’s likely that your appetite for coins will increase in tandem and we hope to have given you some useful tips to get you started.

Stay tuned for more posts in our Getting Started with Coin Collecting Series. Next time we’ll be looking at a new numismatist’s glossary – all the terms you need to know to be a true collector.